Washington Post Poll

This Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone September 12 to 16, 2012, among a random sample of 1,104 adults in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Interviews were conducted on conventional and cellular telephones, and carried out in English and Spanish by Abt-SRBI of New York. The results from the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; it is four points for the samples of 934 registered voters and 847 likely voters.

*= less than 0.5 percent

1. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) How closely are you following the 2012 presidential race: very closely, somewhat closely, not so closely, or not closely at all?

2. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) I'd like you to rate the chances that you will vote in the presidential election in November: Are you absolutely certain to vote, will you probably vote, are the chances 50-50, or less than that?

3. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) If the presidential election were being held today and the candidates were (Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the Democrats) and (Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, the Republicans), for whom would you vote? Would you lean toward (Obama) or toward (Romney)?

4. (IF SUPPORT OBAMA OR ROMNEY) Will you definitely vote for (OBAMA/ROMNEY), or is there a chance you could change your mind and vote for (CANDIDATE NOT NAMED)? (IF CHANCE CHANGE MIND) Would you say (there’s a good chance) you'll change your mind, or would you say (it’s pretty unlikely)?

6. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) How about if the presidential election were being held today and the candidates were {(Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the Democrats), (Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, the Republicans)}, {(Gary Johnson and James Gray, from the Libertarian Party), (Virgil Goode and Jim Clymer, from the Constitution Party), and (Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, from the Green Party)}, for whom would you vote? Which candidates are you leaning toward?

7. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) For each item I name, please tell me how important it will be in your vote for President. The first is (ITEM). Will that be extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or less important than that?

10. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Now, turning to the U.S. Senate election in Virginia, if the 2012 election for the U.S. Senate were being held today, would you vote for (Tim Kaine, the Democrat) or (George Allen, the Republican)? Which one are you leaning toward right now?

11. (IF SUPPORT KAINE OR ALLEN) Will you definitely vote for (KAINE/ALLEN), or is there a chance you could change your mind and vote for (CANDIDATE NOT NAMED)? (IF CHANCE CHANGE MIND) Would you say (there’s a good chance) you'll change your mind, or would you say (it’s pretty unlikely)?

20. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) For each item I name, please tell me if it is a major reason for you to (support) that candidate for U.S. Senate, a major reason for you to (oppose) that candidate, or not a major factor in your senate vote?

9/16/12 - Summary Table
Major Major Not a
reason to reason to major No
support oppose factor op.
a. Kaine’s work as chairman of the
Democratic National Committee 21 21 51 7
b. Kaine’s performance as governor 36 23 36 5
c. Allen’s performance as governor 32 19 41 8
d. Allen’s work in the private sector
on behalf of energy companies 21 17 51 11

21. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Will one reason for your vote for U.S. Senate be to express (support for) President Obama, to express (opposition to) Obama, or is Obama not a factor in your choice?

22. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) As you may know, a health reform bill was signed into law in 2010. Given what you know about the health reform law, do you have a generally (favorable) or generally (unfavorable) opinion of it? Is that a very [favorable/unfavorable] or somewhat [favorable/unfavorable] opinion?)

Next, I have a few questions about the Medicare program, the government health insurance program for seniors

23. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Would you say the current Medicare program is working well for most seniors, or not?

Medicare is Medicare is not No
working well working well opinion
9/16/12 RV 64 27 10

24. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Do you think (changes need to be made to the Medicare program to keep it sustainable for the future), or do you think (the Medicare program will basically be fine if we leave it as is)?

Medicare needs to be changed Medicare is fine No
to keep it sustainable if we leave it as is opinion
9/16/12 RV 76 18 6

25. (AMONG THOSE WHO SAY CHANGES NEEDED) Do you think we need to make (major) changes or (minor) changes to Medicare to keep it sustainable for the future?

Major changes Minor changes No opinion
9/16/12 RV 53 41 6

26. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Which of these two descriptions comes closer to your view of what Medicare should look like in the future? (OPTION A: Medicare should continue as it is today, with the government guaranteeing all seniors the same set of health insurance benefits), or (OPTION B: Medicare should be changed to a system in which the government guarantees each senior a fixed amount of money to help them purchase coverage either from traditional Medicare or from a list of private health plans)?

27. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Which comes closer to your opinion – (if policymakers made the right changes, they could reduce the federal budget deficit without reducing Medicare spending) or (in order to significantly reduce the federal budget deficit policymakers will need to reduce Medicare spending)?

Policymakers can reduce Medicare spending needs
deficit without reducing to be reduced in order No
Medicare spending to reduce the deficit opinion
9/16/12 RV 73 21 7

28. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) Do you think it should be LEGAL or ILLEGAL for gay and lesbian couples to get married?

30. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) I’ll now read a list of potential Virginia gubernatorial candidates. For each, please tell me if you would definitely vote for him in the November 2013 general election next year if he were on the ballot, if you would consider voting for him or if you would definitely NOT vote for him?

If (INSERT) were the Democratic nominee for governor, would you definitely vote for him in November 2013, would you consider voting for him or would you definitely not vote for him?

31. (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) If (INSERT) were the Republican nominee for governor, would you definitely vote for him in November 2013, would you consider voting for him or would you definitely not vote for him?

901. Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as (a Democrat), (a Republican), an independent or what? IF NOT DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN: Do you lean more towards the (Democratic Party) or (Republican Party)?